The project

BACKGROUND

In the last two decades, electricity grids face many issues that they were not designed to handle. The demand has increased worldwide and massive power outages are likely to become more probable with the increasing age and load of power infrastructures, with the decentralization of the electricity generation, with the complexity of the power system operation. Thus, environment-friendly development, higher reliability and better security are the main expectations by the stake-holders, actors and users of the electrical system.

KEY CHALLENGES

Modeling the complexity of electrical system has become necessary to understand how Smart Grids properties emerge from their complex organization and to design resilient and agile architectures for the optimization of Smart Grids operations.
Smart Grids are not engineered from ground-up. They result from the incremental transformation of current power systems into smart electrical systems, by the connection of new subsystems or devices. The proposal of a framework for standardization is therefore a crucial issue to ensure that an efficient and interoperable Smart Grid is achieved by the transformation process.

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missions

STRATEGY

We propose to use fractality as a core concept to model, analyze and design future Smart Grids. We will develop new analysis tools and design concepts based on fractal geometry to improve both the control of highly distributed loads and generators in power systems and the resilience of the future grid. This will lead to a new architecture of Smart Grids.
We will show how the self-similar topology can benefit to the electrical system, from consumers to utilities.

LONG TERM GOAL

The long-term goal of the Fractal Grid methodology is to provide a framework for the development of international standards for Smart Grid technologies and to facilitate the multi-scale deployment of Smart Grids. For this purpose, it will consider aspects ranging from weather systems and market organization down to communication and electrical networks with a particular attention paid to the latter aspect.

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Fractal Grids should yield a more flexible,

Controllable, resilient and interoperable electrical system enabling an efficient and safe operation. Their self-similar structure is close to the classical decomposition of the electrical system in various voltage levels and fractality is by definition a multi-layer approach, which suits well to Smart Grids’ architecture. Despite their apparent complexity, Fractal Grids are very simple to describe by few dimensional parameters. Their performances are set up by the value of these parameters. This should facilitate their design and engineering.

Another issue is how to increase

The controllability by the deployment of standardized fractal control schemes. This should be easier if operating principles and control laws are similar at any scale of observation because of the recursive clustering of the grid.
Last but not least aspect, fractality is a perfect approach to propose a multi-scale framework for the definition of interoperability standards. The framework will be suitable for every scale of observation of the grid, each scale structure being identical to another one.

Fractal Grids can be seen as a grid of grids.

They are built as a whole by the multi-layer assemblage of identical patterns. And the impacts of the cross-scale dynamics are not ignored during the design process. Flexibility of the Fractal Grid is partly provided by this capability to be locally reconfigured during operation without unwanted impact on the whole system.

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workplan

FractalGrid’s objectives are to analyze the geometry and performances of current electrical systems and to propose new designs of networks based on fractality.

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Multiscale analysis of current power grids

Links between electrical variables, grid dynamics, resilience
and topological parameters of the grid.

Links between spatial organization of built-up spaces and to-
pology of distribution grids.

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Design of a Fractal Grids

Fractal topologies that take into account by design the multilayered and highly distributed nature of electrical systems.

Control architecture of the fractal grid to cope with the flexibility at all levels (generation, transmission, distribution, end users).

Methodological and simulation framework to approach the other aspects that appear and influence the power system operation at different scales (weather conditions, electricity market).

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Dissemination and communication

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OUTPUTS / DELIVRABLES

Project delivrables : click on the icon to download the released files.

15.01.2018

Theoretical framework and numerical tools
to assess stability of power grids.

15.01.2018

Analysis of spatiotemporal
characteristics of renewable generation and demand.

15.07.2018

Results and interpretation of power network fractal analyses

15.07.2018

Definition of an index of vulnerability
and comparison for different networks

15.07.2019

Fractal Grid architectures
for an urban distribution network

15.07.2019

Control schemes for Fractal Grids. Structure and Performances.

15.07.2019

A simulation tool for the Fractal Grid management.

01.09.2019

Final Review meeting report.

OUTPUTS / PUBLICATIONS

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consortium

Four academic labs (G2Elab, ARMINES, LMI and ThéMA) are in charge of the research development. The project is funded by the French National Research Agency (ANR-15-CE05-007-01).

ADVISORY BOARD

The project concerns all the industrial actors ranging from the regulator, the TSO, DSO, utilities, electrical systems and devices suppliers, major corporate customers. Some representatives of these actors are gathered in an Advisory Board to benefit from their strategic advice and their experience in designing, engineering, managing and operating the electrical system.